2012 Marathon/2011 Princess Half Marathon Weekend Trip Report! 8/21 - 2013 TRAINING!

[BigEeyore]

Those are some really rare characters - I love that about the Disney races, such a treat for Disney buffs! You would have known professor Ludwig Von Drake if you had little kids - he is often on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show!

I can't believe you are already at mile 9 and not even inside MK yet! I think we got into MK just after mile 5 at the Princess.

 

[ZehnJahren]

I just found this TR this morning and I am definitely subbing. I'm enjoying all your pictures and random characters (seriously, where do they dig these characters up from?? Those pigs were at Disney back in 1982!). I also have a dream of running one of these races but I always hurt myself before I can do it. This time, I'm already doing some training and hoping very much to do the half marathon next January. I wanted to do the ToT 10 miler but sadly the dates wouldn't work out with my job (that's quarter close for me, the EXACT date, and I just couldn't make it work though I thought I could at first).

So keep it coming!

 

[Ariel484]

Those are some really rare characters - I love that about the Disney races, such a treat for Disney buffs! You would have known professor Ludwig Von Drake if you had little kids - he is often on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show!

I can't believe you are already at mile 9 and not even inside MK yet! I think we got into MK just after mile 5 at the Princess.

Ah, ok...thanks for the Ludwig Von Drake info. I did google him when I got home! I LOVE seeing these rare characters, even if I don't always know who they are.

Yes, it was definitely a long way to the MK! But now with the new course I guess we will be getting there more like mile 5, just like the Princess/WDW Half.

I just found this TR this morning and I am definitely subbing. I'm enjoying all your pictures and random characters (seriously, where do they dig these characters up from?? Those pigs were at Disney back in 1982!). I also have a dream of running one of these races but I always hurt myself before I can do it. This time, I'm already doing some training and hoping very much to do the half marathon next January. I wanted to do the ToT 10 miler but sadly the dates wouldn't work out with my job (that's quarter close for me, the EXACT date, and I just couldn't make it work though I thought I could at first).

So keep it coming!

Thanks for subbing! I know, the 3 Little Pigs?! Crazy.

That stinks that you haven't been able to do a Disney race yet. I hope it happens for you soon! We (my husband and I) had our sights set on the ToT 10-miler too, but also couldn't make it happen.

Thanks for reading! I'll post more soon.

 

[Ariel484]

Day 3: Sunday, January 8 - WALT DISNEY WORLD MARATHON! Mile 10...the Magic Kingdom! Part 1

Fredison and Adriano were done with the marathon, but us slowpokes were still back at The Contemporary. It was time to go under the water bridge and up the hill on the other side. Just like in the Princess Half, I handled this hill pretty well.

From this point on throughout the race I remember seeing lots of Steelers fans and Terrible Towels, which was confusing to me. As a native Clevelander I was tempted to shout “GO BROWNS!”…as someone who is not that interested in football, I just kind of went, “Meh,” and kept on running. I later found out that – DUH – there was a play-off game that evening (more on that later), hence the Steelers paraphernalia.

As we inched closer and closer to the Magic I remember hearing Lady Gaga (“Edge of Glory”) which got me SUPER pumped! Love me some Gaga! (Don’t hate!)

For whatever reason, even without stops, this mile was a long one…I guess I was distracted by the spectators, resorts, etc.

At Mile Marker 10 (woohoo…double digits!), 8:40AM, the second text split was sent out. Ten miles in 2:14:25, a 13:27 pace. My estimated finish time had creeped up to 5:52:38.

And now, the part of the course that most, if not all, Disney runners picture in the weeks and months leading up to the marathon (at least I did) – running down Main Street USA!

We were granted access to the Kingdom through a CM-only entrance. Just like during the Princess Half, I was shocked to see all of the scrims in place on Main Street.

Spectators were cheering us on to our left, volunteers were clapping for us to the right. I was just past the (heavily scrimmed) Main Street Bakery when I decided to turn around to get a shot of Main Street, only to get majorly photo-bombed! HEY, WHO IS THIS JERK RUINING MY PICTURE?!

IT’S PRINCESS CRAIGGY! (Dude needs to shave, no?) I seriously did not realize it was him until I’d already taken the picture. We sort of yelled at one another over getting separated (while going through the water stop he had run up ahead and was waiting for me by a porta-potty just after Mile Marker 7 I guess, while I thought he’d just ditched me altogether). Ah, siblings. Eventually I re-took my Main Street picture and we asked a volunteer to take a picture of us with the castle in the background.

Reunited, and it feels so good!

Continued in Next Post

 

[gncntry]

Awesome trip report! I've never been a runner (50 years old) but I decided that in 2013 I want to do the Princess 5K. I started running in February so I have plenty of time to get my speeds up.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Eight]

I'm loving your TR! I'll be doing the ToT ten miler, and your TR makes me excited for what's to come. Looking forward to more!

 

[Ariel484]

Awesome trip report! I've never been a runner (50 years old) but I decided that in 2013 I want to do the Princess 5K. I started running in February so I have plenty of time to get my speeds up.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the report, and thanks for reading so far!

I've never done a 5K at Disney, but I read a report from someone that did it in 2012 and it seemed like SO much fun. You're right, you do have plenty of time to prepare for the race. Good luck with your training, and make sure you don't forget your camera on race day!

I'm loving your TR! I'll be doing the ToT ten miler, and your TR makes me excited for what's to come. Looking forward to more!

Ooh...the ToT 10-miler. Lucky you! I really want to do that race one day...the medal looks AMAZING. I can't wait to hear all about it. Thanks for reading and good luck with your training!

 

[Ariel484]

Day 3: Sunday, January 8 - WALT DISNEY WORLD MARATHON! Miles 10 & 11...the Magic Kingdom! Part 2

After our castle pic, we headed across the bridge into Tomorrowland.

As we ran toward the Lunching Pad, we were both in high spirits. We both agreed that this race was OMG SO MUCH FUN SQUEEE and he actually commented that he thought this race was ruining any future possible marathons for him. I completely agreed…where else does a runner get an experience like this?!

I was hoping for a good, classic character in front of the Lunching Pad, but we got naked Stitch (by that I mean Stich not in a special outfit). I love Lilo and Stitch, but Stitch is another character you can easily meet in the parks, so we passed him by.

We ran through Tomorrowland and into Fantastyland (past the expansion…at this point I remember wondering if the race would go through the new areas at some point. Not in 2013, sadly ), where we encountered a first-for-us character…the Mad Hatter!

We’re late! We’re late! And we’ve still got a few hours to go!

We bade farewell to Alice and the Mad Hatter (with Craig loudly singing “The Unbirthday Song” along the way) and hopped into our next character line, which was right near Dumbo.

The Dumbos flew for us a bit…this was the day before the ride went down for refurbishment (or relocation, I guess):

And now it was our turn to meet Rapunzel, another one who was new to me – we’d met Flynn during the Princes Half.

“Hi, Shannon!” Rapunzel said.
I stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds…how did she know my name?! It’s Disney magic! Or, you know…the fact that my name was printed on my bib.
“Hi, Rapunzel,” I replied stupidly before the picture was taken. HAHAHA

We took a left past the carousel and came upon – you guessed it – another character meet! This one was right behind the castle, the scene of last year’s heartbreak when Royal Mickey and Minnie switched out on us just as we got in line to meet them during the Princess Half. While waiting in line, Craig was his usual chatty self…apparently he’d had his iPod on throughout the race and was listening to review for a nursing test he needed to take soon. Whatever pumps you up to run, bro. It ended up being worth it though, because he passed on the first try! What a smarty-pants.

No switching out this year, but the step-sisters were a lot less animated than I’d hoped for. Oh, well.

Next up was another moment that is always a great one in a Disney race…running through the castle! We all yelled “WOOHOO!” as we sped through and came out to see a packed Main Street USA:

So I didn’t realize this until looking at the official race pictures later on, but there were video cameras set up throughout the course. When I bought the photo package, I ended up with 3 videos!

Here’s the first one…both of us are running out of the castle. It’s hard to spot us at first…we come in at about the 20-second mark, starting on the left side of the screen and crossing over to the right. My favorite part of the video is right near the end where you can see me pointing to our next photo stop. I tried to figure out a way to embed this into the post and failed, so I made a YouTube account for the sole purpose of sharing these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wWa4Yginp0

It’s a mystery to me as to how they sort out whose photos are whose. I’m sure they do something similar to Photopass for the character photos, but for the rest of the random photos of us running I keep imagining a bunch of interns squeezed into a room sorting through all of them. I was really clueless as to how our videos were properly assigned to us until Will pointed out another timing mat that we ran over on our way out of the castle, which you can see near the bottom of the screen. Our bib tags must’ve synched up with brightroom (the company that handles the photos/videos for the race) to assign our video to our accounts. Neat.

So anyway, the photo-op I was pointing out to my brother in the video was in front of the castle. We hopped in line and didn’t realize that these were brightroom photos only (brightroom was the official photography company for the race) – none on my camera – until it was our turn. Boo! Good thing I shelled out the cash for the photo package!

I think they could've tried a little harder to not cut off the top of the castle, but whatever.

After the castle we took a right into Liberty Square. I mentioned above that in the weeks leading up to this race I had read and re-read marathon trip reports, and certain characters popped up that I really, really wanted pictures with. I know the characters aren’t necessarily the same year after year, but a girl can dream, right?

As we entered Library Square, I held my breath…I was hoping for Colonial Mickey, Donald and Goofy! A buddy of mine had met them on the marathon course in 2009. But sadly, it was not meant to be. Instead we saw Naveen and Louis, who we’d met (along with Tiana) during the Princess Half, so we passed them up. Boy, was I bummed.

We entered Frontierland and passed Woody (another that can easily be met in the parks) and mile 11 near Splash Mountain.

Your eyes are not deceiving you…that’s a 22-minute mile!

And with that, it was time to leave the Magic Kingdom. I’ll admit I was a little let down by the characters there – I’d really been hoping for Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy or Goofy. On the other hand, I did get some new-to-me pictures (Mad Hatter, Rapunzel, Prince Charming), so all was not lost! Plus I would’ve been super excited to see Louis if we hadn’t already met him the year before.

On our way out of the Magic Kingdom, we ran into Mary Poppins and her chimney sweeping friends…in front of the Genie’s float from the parade. Very odd backdrop.

Continued in Next Post

 

[Eight]

I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed that the ToT race doesn't go through the castle. That seems like it would be such a great part! I like the video you posted, (although it won't load over 15 seconds for me for some reason), because I love that you can hear the park's background music. And that does seem like a very odd backdrop for Mary Poppins, pretty cool, but very odd.

 

[Ariel484]

I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed that the ToT race doesn't go through the castle. That seems like it would be such a great part! I like the video you posted, (although it won't load over 15 seconds for me for some reason), because I love that you can hear the park's background music. And that does seem like a very odd backdrop for Mary Poppins, pretty cool, but very odd.

True, missing the castle is a bummer. BUT 1. You get the after party in the Studios, and 2. You finish by the Tower of Terror - only the greatest ride ever (in my humble opinion). Maybe this is just motivation for you to someday run the Princess Half, WDW Half or the WDW Maration, hmm?

 

[Ariel484]

Day 3: Sunday, January 8 - WALT DISNEY WORLD MARATHON! Miles 12 & 13...GREATEST CHARACTER MEET EVER???

After exiting the Kingdom, we passed the Grand Floridian and were at Mile Marker 12 and Chomp break #3:

There were 2 stretches of the course that I was most nervous for, and this one (miles 12-16) was one of them. I knew I’d feel bummed after leaving the Magic Kingdom (which I was ), and we were looking at 4 miles of back roads before reaching the next park. Luckily it wasn't too bad…the best part was how shaded it was. Now that the sun was out it was getting a little warm, but in the shade it was breezy and cool. Just lovely.

Pooh and Tigger were meeting and greeting just after mile 12, but we didn’t stop for them – again, they can pretty easily be met in the parks. We were approaching the Magnolia Golf Course when I saw a sad, sad sight. After just missing Mickey and Minnie during the Princess Half last year, I was hoping to get just one freaking picture with them on the course this time around.

And there they go.

NOOOO! COME BACK!

Sadness. We hopped in line anyway.

There were no trees to shade us here and the sun was getting a bit brutal at this point. I’d put sunscreen on that morning but it was surely sweated off by now. All of the other runners in line with us were asking one another if anyone had brought sunscreen…nope. I guess there wasn’t any at the med tents either. We were a crispy, sweaty bunch. Mmm...crispy.

But at least we got to meet our pals!

After meeting the goof and the duck, we kept chugging along and came up to the relay exchange point for the now defunct WDW Marathon Relay.

(Seeing this sign, I thought, “OMG! That’s me! I’m running the full marathon!” Like I was just now realizing that…?! )

I have to say, as someone that was not a relay runner, the relay exchange seemed to go pretty smoothly…by that I mean that if I didn’t see the signs or hear the volunteers shouting “Relay runners to the left!” I don’t think I would have known it was even happening. I thought this would be a mess with people leaving and entering the course, but it wasn’t. The relay runners actually turned off the course and the exchange was done in an area that the rest of us didn’t even see. Now that I think about it, I don’t even remember the 2nd relay runners entering the course after the exchange. It wasn’t a problem at all (from my point of view anyway…any relay runners out there who actually did the exchange maybe have different opinions ). Well done, runDisney!

In the picture below you can see the cones guiding the relay runners to the exchange point on the left, while the rest of us continued in the right lane to Mile Marker 13.

That 13th mile was another long one – almost 18 minutes, due mostly to the line we waited in for Goofy and Donald, I think. Worth it? You betcha.

Just after this Mile Marker the 3rd text update went out: at the halfway point in 3:08:50, a 14:24 pace. Please note how much my projected finish time shot up over the course of 3.1 miles: from 5:52 at the 10-mile update to 6:17:33!

After Mile Marker 13 we had to run around a corner as we got closer to Animal Kingdom. At points throughout the race my brother was a bit ahead of me (no big deal) and this was one of those times. He ran around the corner before I did, and I could hear “Bad” by Michael Jackson playing in the distance. “Good song,” I thought as I rounded the corner. “Hey, maybe a villain will be out and I can show off my sweet dance moves!”

OMG. COMMENCE COMPLETE AND TOTAL GEEKING OUT.

Seriously, this might be the greatest character meet of all time...OF ALL TIME! I was so freaking excited I didn’t know what to do with myself, hence my stupid pose or…I don’t know, whatever I’m doing.

Not only did we meet Dr. Facilier (Will was, predictably, pretty jealous of that one) and not only did Cruella "pet" my brother (LOVE IT) but in looking at the picture later I realized they got Scar in there as well. Sneaky Disney, very sneaky. For those of you that are mathematically challenged, allow me to drive the point home - that's a whopping 5 villains! In one picture! In the Elephant Graveyard! WOOT!

Continued in Next Post

 

[Eight]

True, missing the castle is a bummer. BUT 1. You get the after party in the Studios, and 2. You finish by the Tower of Terror - only the greatest ride ever (in my humble opinion). Maybe this is just motivation for you to someday run the Princess Half, WDW Half or the WDW Maration, hmm?

Very true! I really love the Tower of Terror, which may have been one of the reasons I wanted to do this race (well, that, and ten miles doesn't seem as daunting as a half marathon). I just hope I'm not too tired to enjoy at least some of the party afterward!
And yeah, I'm already thinking about if I want to run one of the half marathons next year!

That's too bad that you missed Mickey and Minnie again. Their golf outfits look so cute! But I'm really loving Donald's argyle top.

I don't know which I like better, them playing Bad or 5 whole villains in one go, so let's go with that whole thing is pretty darn awesome! I love that they have Scar in the background. I wonder, is Scar part of a parade float? Or an old parade float? Hmm..

 

[ellajeansmom]

Hi, I'm still following along and loving all the pictures Several comments in that last post had me laughing out loud...it would have taken me a minute to realize Rapunzel could see the name on the bib too

Awesome that your brother found you again - and at a perfect spot too so you could run through MK together!

That is definitely a great villain pic, especially including Scar, that is so cool!

 

[ZehnJahren]

Wow, that's an AWESOME villains picture!! SCAR!

 

[Ariel484]

Very true! I really love the Tower of Terror, which may have been one of the reasons I wanted to do this race (well, that, and ten miles doesn't seem as daunting as a half marathon). I just hope I'm not too tired to enjoy at least some of the party afterward!
And yeah, I'm already thinking about if I want to run one of the half marathons next year!

That's too bad that you missed Mickey and Minnie again. Their golf outfits look so cute! But I'm really loving Donald's argyle top.

I don't know which I like better, them playing Bad or 5 whole villains in one go, so let's go with that whole thing is pretty darn awesome! I love that they have Scar in the background. I wonder, is Scar part of a parade float? Or an old parade float? Hmm..

I really like the 10-mile distance. I think you will have a blast! Which half marathon are you looking at??

Yes, Mickey and Minnie have really been eluding me during these races! Meeting Donald and Goofy was a good consolation prize though.

I agree with you, the whole villain experience was awesome! I have no idea where Scar came from. I admit I am not too familiar with the parades, but you may be right that he's from a float.

Hi, I'm still following along and loving all the pictures Several comments in that last post had me laughing out loud...it would have taken me a minute to realize Rapunzel could see the name on the bib too

Awesome that your brother found you again - and at a perfect spot too so you could run through MK together!

That is definitely a great villain pic, especially including Scar, that is so cool!

Thanks for still reading! The Rapunzel thing is one of my favorite memories from the marathon...and I have lots!

Yeah, I cannot believe we found one another! At the time I remember thinking that we probably would eventually, but still...there were, like, 15000 people running the thing. It's really quite surprising that he spotted me. Yay!

Wow, that's an AWESOME villains picture!! SCAR!

I know! It's an all-time favorite of mine.

 

[Eight]

I really like the 10-mile distance. I think you will have a blast! Which half marathon are you looking at??

Thank you! I think I'm going to have a great time too!
I've been debating the WDW Half Marathon, the Princess Half Marathon, and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. The con to the first two are that I live in Seattle, so flying to Florida is long and can be expensive. But I don't know, for some reason, they seem cooler. The Tinker Bell is the most logical choice, since Disneyland is much closer, and since it's Martin Luther King Weekend, I would get Monday off from college.

Basically I would rather do one of the WDW ones, but the Disneyland one makes more sense.

You may have mentioned this somewhere, and I can't remember, but between the Princess Half and the WDW Marathon, was there one you liked better? Like, in terms of atmosphere and overall experience?

Also, can I say how impressed I am that you're doing the Goofy challenge? That's amazing!

 

[Ariel484]

Thank you! I think I'm going to have a great time too!
I've been debating the WDW Half Marathon, the Princess Half Marathon, and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. The con to the first two are that I live in Seattle, so flying to Florida is long and can be expensive. But I don't know, for some reason, they seem cooler. The Tinker Bell is the most logical choice, since Disneyland is much closer, and since it's Martin Luther King Weekend, I would get Monday off from college.

Basically I would rather do one of the WDW ones, but the Disneyland one makes more sense.

You may have mentioned this somewhere, and I can't remember, but between the Princess Half and the WDW Marathon, was there one you liked better? Like, in terms of atmosphere and overall experience?

Also, can I say how impressed I am that you're doing the Goofy challenge? That's amazing!

Hmm...this is a tough one! I honestly don't think that I liked one better than the other. Helpful, right? The Princess Half was my first-ever Disney race, but the marathon was my first marathon, so they both are special to me and I really enjoyed both. Both races were really positive, fun environments. I guess you'd have to think about...

1. Which environment do you think you'd prefer - one that is "geared toward women" (i.e. lots of "girl-power" type stuff around, pink, sparkle, etc.) or not so much geared toward women?

2. Is any time of year better for you to go to Florida, since it's a cross-country flight? The weather may be different too, but for us it seemed like the February 2011 weather and the January 2012 weather was pretty similar (i.e. awesome). That hasn't always been the case though.

3. They are both big races, but I think the WDW Half is going to have more runners (~20,000 vs. ~16,000 for the Princess Half). And then there's the full marathon as well, so there would be, I think, 40,000 people there for marathon weekend, so there's a change you'd get more crowds overall. The other way to look at this is there is more of a "buzz" around marathon weekend - more people there to run so (I thought) a little more excitement all weekend as a whole compared to the Princess Half weekend - not to say that there wasn't excitement surrounding the Princess Half, because there was!

4. Theme of the race - princess-centered vs. general WDW sporty-type theme (not sure how else to describe marathon weekend themes?!) - so I guess similar to #1 above

5. ...do you want a tiara medal or a Donald medal? Princess shirt or Donald shirt? It sounds silly, but I like getting the stuff, so it's something to consider!

6. If you stay on property, all resorts are host resorts for marathon weekend (they provide transportation to and from the expo and race), but only a select few are host resorts for the Princess Half, so that will narrow your selection if you're going to rely on Disney transportation. Same thing for the 10-miler. Probably not a huge deal, but it is a difference between the two weekends.


Honestly, I can't think of any other differences off the top of my head. In both instances - the Princess Half and the WDW Half - you're going to have an ungodly early wake-up call (you'd also get this with the Tinkerbell/Disneyland Half marathons), and both courses are exactly the same - so either way you'll get to run down Main Street toward the castle, then back through it. I think it'll really come down to when you can go to WDW - early January vs. late February - and what theme you prefer.

I haven't run a race in Disneyland (yet) so I can't really comment on those. Maybe google "Tinkerbell Half Marathon Race Report" or something like that and see what comes up.

And thanks for the Goofy encouragement! I'm nervous but looking forward to it!

 

[Ariel484]

Day 3: Sunday, June 8 - WALT DISNEY WORLD MARATHON! Miles 14-16

As we ran away from the villains, the music switched to “Bad to the Bone” and I continued to geek out until we got to Mile Marker 14 (the farthest Craig had ever run up to this point). I am lame.

The next mile didn’t have a lot going on in the way of entertainment, and was actually the fastest mile of the race for me…11:56! Blazing speed!

After Mile 15 we saw Hook and Smee (who we met on the Princess Half Course) and John Smith (also met on the Princess Half course – see a trend here?) and Pocahontas (who I’d met in Animal Kingdom). And now we were at mile 16!

Woohoo! We’d made it through one of the stretches of the course I’d been dreading, and I was still feeling pretty good. I had a little bit of back and knee soreness, but Biofreeze - sweet, sweet Biofreeze (similar to Bengay) - from the med tents helped with that. It was completely bizarre to me that I was feeling better at this point than I had at mile 10 of the Princess Half.

Now it was time for another Chomp break. As we got closer to Animal Kingdom, we began to see CMs waiting for us with their animal pals. We saw a couple of owls, a goat, some donkeys, and a tortoise and a hare. I am definitely more tortoise than hare when it comes to speed.

Look at his wittle feet! So cute.

We passed Jiminy Cricket (another character we had met during the Princess Half) and then ran into Rafiki!

Seriously, someone needs to give me lessons on how to pose with the characters. I always look like a dope.

Louie and Baloo were up next…we passed them up (not sure why ), and then we were in Animal Kingdom!

It was interesting to be in a park with guests, which hadn’t happened all day. They were either somewhat interested in what was going on or they completely didn’t give a crap. You can see in the picture below that they had to wait on the other side of the cones to cross over the race course.

After passing Everest, Craig got his first ever Tree of Life photo.

Fun fact: there are runners out there who would actually hop off the race course and take a spin on Everest, right in the middle of the marathon! We didn't do this (I'd heard of it, but then forgot about it), and now I'm sort of regretting it, since with the new course for next year we'll be in Animal Kingdom earlier (mile 12ish compared to mile 16ish), and it's possible the park won't be open yet. Then again, we're not exactly speedsters, and the time stamp on Princess C's Tree of Life picture is a bit before 10AM, so who knows...maybe we will get to journey to the Forbidden Mountain during the 2013 Marathon. Or we'll just bag it and keep running. Stay tuned!

Continued in Next Post

 

[disappearing otter]

I've been debating the WDW Half Marathon, the Princess Half Marathon, and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. The con to the first two are that I live in Seattle, so flying to Florida is long and can be expensive. But I don't know, for some reason, they seem cooler. The Tinker Bell is the most logical choice, since Disneyland is much closer, and since it's Martin Luther King Weekend, I would get Monday off from college.

Basically I would rather do one of the WDW ones, but the Disneyland one makes more sense.

Hi -- sorry to butt in, but as a fellow Seattleite who has been lucky enough to run the WDW Half, WDW Full, DL Half, and Tinker Bell half, I just wanted to say how much more fun the races are in Florida. Sure, there are plenty of blah highway miles in Florida between the parks, but at least they're leafy and green and Disney owns them -- so they can put characters and other things on them. In Anaheim, once you're out of the parks, you are pretty much wandering through the wilds of Anaheim... past tile merchants, flea markets, industrial parks...

Don't get me wrong -- we'll be back for Tinker Bell 2013 so we can pick up our Coast-to-Coast medal after staggering through the Goofy -- but if you can swing it at all, go to WDW!!!!

Now returning you to Ariel484's awesome race report, already in progress....

 

[BigEeyore]

Your brother had only trained up to 14 miles before the marathon???
I will have to stay tuned to see how he felt at the end of it. Must be nice to be a young guy! I don't think I'd be too confident in myself getting to the finish in one piece if I had only trained up to 14 miles!

If I do the marathon, I would totally jump on Everest if time allows! Where else can you ride a roller coaster mid-marathon? Hopefully AK will open in time that day to get in a spin on EE.